Acoustics
Acoustics The efficacy of a specific ultrasound contrast agent application depends on the microbubble’s unique behaviors in an ultrasound field. Hence our acoustics laboratories and attendant expertise in acoustic physics (Drs. Xucai Chen, and Kang Kim), serve a critical function in performing testing and acoustic characterization of our microbubble agents. To this end, our laboratories are equipped to both deliver and detect nonlinear acoustic signals. Our test setup typically utilizes single-element transducers, but we are also developing novel imaging techniques using catheter-based transducers. We test the various acoustic responses of our microbubbles and other agents using hydrophones, waveform generators, transducers, and other equipment driven by high-power computers inside a sophisticated water tank system complete with a three-dimensional translational stage and water conditioner. The data allow us to characterize the frequency spectrum of a microbubble’s non-linear response, which should enable optimization of imaging methods for microbubble detection and design of therapeutic transducers.
